1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus capable of storing image data in a detachably-connected external storage device, such as a universal serial bus (USB) or memory card.
2. Description of the Related Art
A multifunction peripheral (MFP) is a type of image forming apparatus which has a printer function, a copying function, a facsimile function, and the like. Some MFPs have an insertion slot into which a USB memory or memory card (hereinafter, removable media) capable of supporting another peripheral device by a common standard can be mounted or connected. Such an apparatus has a function for saving an image read and generated from a scanner provided in the MFP in the removable media.
However, when there is not enough free space in the removable media, a memory-full error in the removable media can occur while the generated image data is being saved in the removable media. In such a case, the saving operation into the removable media is cancelled.
To overcome this problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-118333 discusses an apparatus which, when a memory-full error occurs in the removable media, retains the data in the apparatus, and when a removable media is newly connected, stores the retained data in the newly connected removable media.
However, in a conventional apparatus such as described above, there is a problem with security. More specifically, if another user connects another removable media to the apparatus before the original user newly connects a removable media, the retained data is stored in the removable media connected by the other user. Consequently, the data required by the original user falls into the hands of the other user. This causes the problem that the data is not in the hands of the user who needs it, and an information leakage problem.